The biotechnology company Myriad Genetics owns the diagnosis of genetic predisposition
of breast and ovarian cancer since 1996. The patent, which grants an international license,
reverses the right of molecular analysis by other laboratories. This monopoly allows the
company to apply an excessively higher price than public laboratories and pursue the
offenders in justice. However, since 2001, Quebec is the only province to respect (in part)
the patent, using the company for the complete sequencing.
This research analyzes the gene patent politics in its legal structure of intellectual property
and the cultural meanings of biotechnology. I rely on an analytical framework of theories of
property and biomedical research. I also proceeded to the discourse analysis of physicians
and genetic counsellors in Quebec through interviews conducted in hospitals in the region of
Montreal and Sherbrooke. This qualitative study identifies how doctors and genetic
counsellors analysis the role of patents in the screening and diagnosis of cancer and how
genetic patents express a medical culture. The study aims to explore how gene patents are
perceived in analyzing and comparing the variations between ideological limits and practical
limits.